Sietske Fransen

Sietske Fransen is a Research Group Leader at the Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max Planck Institute for Art History (Max Planck Society) in Rome, where she directs the Research Group 'Visualizing Science in Media Revolutions'. Previously affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, she holds a PhD from the Warburg Institute in London and studied biology/medieval studies at Utrecht University.

Her research examines the intersection of science, visual culture, and knowledge transmission in early modern Europe, with specialization in:

• Visual epistemology in scientific practice
• Translation of medical/scientific knowledge across cultures
• Digital humanities approaches to historical materials
• 17th-century Dutch/German/English/Italian scientific networks

Her publications demonstrate consistent focus on how visual and textual practices shaped scientific knowledge. Recent works analyze visualization techniques in microscopy, translation methodologies in medicine, and archival practices of scientific societies, predominantly centered on 17th-century European contexts.

She co-directs the 'Translating Medicine in the Premodern World' working group and leads research projects examining the impact of media revolutions on scientific representation. Her group's work bridges historical analysis with contemporary digital humanities methodologies.